• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
It's finally time to announce the next expansion for Crusader Kings II! You might already know the name: "Sons of Abraham". Some of you were very close in your guesses on what it might be. No, it's not a Zombie DLC! Sons of Abraham focuses on the three Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The idea was to go back to the roots after all the attention given to the heathens, and to flesh out the religious side of the game for the monotheists; Christians in particular.

First and foremost, we wanted to do more with the Pope; how he gets elected, what powers he has and how you can gain his favor. Thus, we added the Cardinal title and the College of Cardinals. For simplicity's sake, there are only nine cardinals, and the Pope is always elected from among their number. Cardinals, however, are not elected; they are picked by the Pope from among his courtiers and the bishops of Europe. The selection is based on many factors; age, piety, opinion, culture (the Pope really likes Italians!), etc.

CKII_SoA_DD_01_Religion_View.jpg

So, how exactly do you get your man onto the chair of Saint Peter? Well, the Holy See is not a democracy, so this is not a direct process. First, you need at least one of your bishops to get appointed Cardinal by the Holy Father. Fortunately, you do not have to rely entirely on the character of the bishop himself, you can grease the machinery with a bit of lucre by putting money in the campaign fund (similar to how Doges are elected in Merchant Republics). Of course, it is also possible to carefully groom a candidate for a career in the Catholic church before you even make him a bishop.

When the Pope dies, the cardinals in turn elect his successor. This process cannot be directly influenced by the player, but the cardinals will reason much like the Pope does when he picks new cardinals, so it's better to have old, pious men made cardinals than incompetent wastrels whose election you paid for.

CKII_SoA_DD_01_College_of_Cardinals.jpg

Ok, so let us say one of your bishops is eventually made Pope. How does that serve you? Well, Popes that come from your realm will like you - a lot. Of course, that means they will be likely to grant your requests. Want to get divorced? No problem. Want to invade someone? Ok. To make this even more useful, we've given the Pope some new powers as well: he can give you money, plain and simple. He can also approve your candidate for a bishopric under Papal Investiture, or even declare a Crusade on the infidel of your choice. However, each time he does you a favor, he will like you less, so your influence will not last forever. Incidentally, having your antipope installed in Rome will have a similar effect. Oh, and if the Pope should happen to be of your very own dynasty, that will give you a lot of monthly Piety and Prestige.

CKII_SoA_DD_01_Papal_Powers.jpg

There are some direct benefits to controlling cardinals as well. You cannot ask to have someone excommunicated or invaded if they control more cardinals than you do.

That's that about the College of Cardinals. Next week I'll talk about holy orders, heresies, and other things...

ps.

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham (official product page)
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/crusader-kings-ii-sons-of-abraham

Crusader Kings II: Sons of Abraham announced (News article at PC gamer)
http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/10/22/crusader-kings-ii-the-something-something-announced/[URL="http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/10/22/crusader-kings-ii-the-something-something-announced/"][/URL]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
However, by the looks of it, it seems SoA will omit such fixes/improvements of the EOC and OOC.

Oh well... At least with 2 years left of expansions/dlcs i can still hope that they will give some flavour to the Ecumenical Patriarch... Right now he sits in his Bishopric with his fancy title doing nothing... Also i dont like having random 25 yo Patriarchs popping out when their predecessor dies... Although it happened 2-3 times during the games timeline in actual history it wasnt the norm... A special election mechanic should be added for him also...
 
This is gonna be awesome! Im buying it tomorrow! Im very excited about this but there should be a little bit more features and i would like playing as Pope! That would be awesome! Too playing as a bishops, archbishops and when you are playing as one you could go to some non-catholic countries and try to convert peoples! Or to do the same as imam. But anyway this will be awesome and im looking forward for it! (But this DLC would be more awesome with playing as a clergy feature!)
 
Oh well... At least with 2 years left of expansions/dlcs i can still hope that they will give some flavour to the Ecumenical Patriarch... Right now he sits in his Bishopric with his fancy title doing nothing... Also i dont like having random 25 yo Patriarchs popping out when their predecessor dies... Although it happened 2-3 times during the games timeline in actual history it wasnt the norm... A special election mechanic should be added for him also...

The only real necessary work is that the EP (just like any other religious head) successor should not be generated, but succeeded by the most pious+oldest eparch within the Church (who should in turn receive a generated successor), and that is all.
I believe that it takes just a short work for a patch..?

That opens up a possibility to have a dynastic patriarch (just like the Roman Catholics can now, albeit more harder)...
 
From hell's heart, I stab at thee!